


histories

by tigriswolf



Series: comment_fic drabbles [285]
Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Human Sacrifice, Immortality, M/M, Magical Realism, Old Gods, Trickster Gods
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-09
Updated: 2015-11-09
Packaged: 2018-04-30 18:24:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5174453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tigriswolf/pseuds/tigriswolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"We're just friends," he tells Mal later, tells Cobb, and neither of them believe him. </p><p>It's a lie, anyway.  They've never been friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	histories

**Author's Note:**

> Title: histories  
> Fandom: Inception  
> Disclaimer: not my characters  
> Warnings: references to human sacrifice and violence; spoilers for Star Wars  
> Pairings: Mal/Dom, Arthur/Eames  
> Rating: PG  
> Wordcount: 670  
> Point of view: third  
> Prompt: Inception, Arthur/Eames (&Cobbs), "We're just friends" is the biggest lie he's ever told Cobbs
> 
> Note: I wasn't going to post this here; I didn't even intend to write it, but I watched most of Inception a couple weeks ago and then this happened. *shrugs* I reread it tonight and parts of it I _really_ like, so what the hell.

"You know Arthur?" Cobb asks, and it's a silly question because everyone who's anyone in their business knows Arthur. (It's a silly question for another reason, as well, and he sees the knowledge in the tilt of Arthur's head, the smile hidden in the barest curl of his lip.) 

"Of course I know Arthur," he says. "We go way back, don't we, darling?" 

Cobb raises an eyebrow but then Mal is in the room, as delightful as ever, about to pop with her first child. 

(He wishes he could warn her, could warn them both. But they're so young, and so in love, and they won't listen, whatever he says. He glances at Arthur, and can see that Arthur wishes the same.)

.

"We're just friends," he tells Mal later, tells Cobb, and neither of them believe him. 

It's a lie, anyway. They've never been friends. 

.

"I worshiped you, once," Arthur says, resting his arms on the railing, looking out over London like a king of old surveying the realm. 

"I know," he says. Those were the good old days, weren't they? "How did you earn such a gift?" he asks, watching a young girl three blocks away get dangerously close to the street. Her mum isn't paying attention, focused on the infant still in the car. 

"I killed a god or two," Arthur replies, moving before he can to push the girl back. 

"Shall I worship you now, Arthur?" he asks as the girl cries form her spot on the ground, shocked at such a strong wind. 

"If you like," Arthur says, and then goes back into the room. 

.

"How did you meet?" Mal asks, nursing her daughter while he forges documents for one of his side jobs. "Arthur refuses to say." 

He laughs. "Oh, that's not a story for little ears."

.

Once, nations shook in fear at the sound of his name whispered. Once, continents shuddered beneath the force of his rage. Once, entire peoples were wiped from existence because a single one had offended him. 

Once, a boy was offered as a sacrifice of appeasement. 

There is much that goes unwritten, more that is forgotten. 

.

All happens as he knew it would. 

.

When Cobb returns to his children and Ariadne begins exploring dreamshare and Yusuf returns to his dreamers and Saito to his empire, Arthur knocks on the door of his Los Angeles flat to say, "Mr. Eames." 

"Arthur," he replies. 

"Are you going to invite me in?" Arthur asks. 

"I dunno," he says. "Are you here to kill me?" 

Arthur laughs. "If I didn't kill you then, it'd be pointless now, wouldn't it?" 

It would, at that. The old ways are lost, save for what still lingers in the minds of the survivors, and those are very few. 

"Come in, then," he says.

.

No one knows where Eames or Arthur came from. Everyone knows they've been in dreamshare since the beginning. 

If anyone notices they never age, even though the start of dreamshare is further and further away... well, no one mentions it. 

They attend Cobb's funeral, Saito's, Yusuf's, Ariadne's, and finally Phillipa's and James'. There comes a time when no one knows where dreamsharing came from, but by then, there's new technology, new ways to change the world. 

"Do you remember," Arthur asks as a new century turns, "how we met?" 

"You were magnificent, darling," Eames says. 

"I was terrified," Arthur says. "And very angry." 

Eames kisses him. "I know," he says. 

.

Far into the future, when researchers try to discover just where the dreamshare tech came from, they'll find mentions of _Eames_ and _Arthur_. But who Eames and Arthur were remains a mystery. 

"D'you ever wonder," Eames asks, countless years since they met, "what would've happened if someone else had been chosen?" 

"Not in a very long time," Arthur answers. "Quiet, now, this is the best part." He leans forward in his seat, mouthing along as the character in the practically prehistoric film intones, _No, Luke, _I_ am your father._

Eames sighs.


End file.
